Rivalry of the Heart
by CloudKitsune17
Summary: What if it wasn't Sonic who fell in Chris' pool, but instead... Shadow? And what if Chris had a special connection with the Chaos Emeralds? Eggman isn't going to like this...Or is he..?
1. A Shadow In The Pool

**Rivalry of the Heart**

-----

Pairing(s): Sonic x Chris, Shadow x Chris

Summary: What if it wasn't Sonic who fell in Chris' pool, but instead... Shadow? And what if Chris had a sepcial connection with the Chaos Emeralds? Eggman isn't going to like this...Or is he..?

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Chapter 1;  
A Shadow In The Pool 

-----------------

Chris silently watched as the sky grew dark, the stars barely seen thanks to the light of the town nearby. It was a Friday night, and all his friends were home, enjoying their families before bed...

_'Man, I feel lonely,'_ Chris sighed, laying his head on his crossed arms, which were comfortably resting on the window's ceil. Staring up at the night sky, stars twinkling weakly, he wished, _'If only something interesting would happen once in a while...'_

"Young Master! Its time for bed!" Mr. Tanaka called from just outside the boy's room.

"All right!" Chris called back, removing himself from the window; though a bit reluctantly. A light flash pulled him back, however, but staring at the sky, nothing seemed to had changed. "Odd," he whispered aloud, "I could of sworn..."

"Young Master!" Tanaka called again.

"I'm coming!" Chris turned his attention to the sky once more, before heading to his family's butler's side. _'It was probably just my imagenation...'_

--

The blinding light the Chaos Emeralds had caused was starting to fade away from the flustered hedgehogs' vision. They had been in the middle of a fight over the Emeralds Eggman had collected, but now... Where were they!

Blinking friendly emerald colored eyes, the blue hedgehog tried to force the light out of his vision faster, but it didn't seem to work. It was only after voices from other than the two and horns honking did everything clear up. And to his surpise, they were surrounded by beings almost like Eggman; only nowhere near as ugly and egg-shaped.

The black furred hedgehog glared daggers at the said people; uncomfortable under their gapping gazes. Unable to take it any longer, he shot a look towards the other before making a dash for it.

"Shadow, wait!" the other shouted, causing people to gasp in shock.

"I-it can talk!" a female voice stuttered out.

"That's too big to be a hedgehog!" a male's gruff voice shouted this time.

"Who cares what it is? Get out of the road!" another male roared, enraged.

_'Whatever these people are, aren't as friendly as they look,'_ Sonic, the blue hedgehog, thought. But before anything else could be said, he dashed after the other, who had a couple miles ahead of him.

But he caught up easily, as usual.

"HEY!" Sonic yelled, shooting Shadow a glare, "Where do you think _you're_ going! We still haven't finished our match!"

"..." Shadow shot the other a peircing, crimson glare, but smirked as he offered, "Why not a race, then? Will _that_ get you off my tail?"

"As long as I win!" Sonic smirked himself, but it was less cruel and more cocky than Shadow's own.

And with that, the two sped off, quicker than the speed of light and leaving a black and blue trail in their wake.

--

Chris was finally tucked into bed, in the mist of a dream about humanoid animals that played, laughed, and enjoyed themselves with otehrs around them; Even when a fox would usually hunt and _eat_ the rabbit, instead of picking flowers with it... But it was a dream, so nothing really made sense.

Suddenly, something dark over shadowed the cheerful meddow the creatures frollicked. Something huge, and held a powerful aura. A powerfully _evil_ aura!

Chris looked up at the sky, suddenly apart of the dream world instead of just watching. The dark figure, which now blocked most of the sun, stretched out a _huge_ clawed hand; Made of pure darkness. It was slowly moving to Chris' frozen form. Its hand was even _BIGGER_ than Chris himself!

_'Its just like one of those Godzilla movies...!'_ Chris thought to himself, which was the only thing he was able to do from fear, _'But whatever this...thing...is, isn't on the good side!'_

Just then, the hand closed from above and around Chris, darkness capturing him; Literally! But that didn't last long, as light started shining through, causing the monster to recoil with a cry of pain. And where did the light come from? Why, Chris' chest plait; Where his heart was suppose to be.

Gasping, Chris tentatively moved a hand to touch the said light and was overcome with a relaxingly warm feeling. Like there was another pressense inside of him, almost like a mother's touch, but you were the one taking care of the child...

_'This...is odd...'_ Chris thought slowly, sapphire orbs drooping lazily,_ 'But...very...nice...'_

--

"What wrong? Running out of steam?" Shadow smirked, turning a glance over his shoulder at Sonic.

"I'm going to make you eat those words, Sha--Whoa!" Sonic yelped, skidding to an adrupt stop.

Shadow, on the other hand, ignored Sonic completely and continued to run... Over the unfinished bridge! _'What a looser,'_ the black furred hedgehog mocked, _'Sonic is even scared of heights as he is of water? How patheticly sad.'_

"Shadow, wait!" Sonic cried, but the other was too far off now to hear his cry. With a shrug, he mumbled, "What the heck?" before turning on his heels and running back the way the two came. Skidding to another halt at the beginning of the brigde, the blue hedgehog took a deep breath, before dashing as fast as he could to the _edge_ of the bright before shooting off into the air, just as Shadow had done not so long ago.

"I'm not beat yet, Shadow!"

--

All the beautiful mixture of lights were starting to get to Shadow. This world...was too different from his own. And yet...something about it was calling to him, as if he _belonged_ here. Or, belonged somewhere on this planet; be it in one certain area or at the side of one of these humans...

_'But no one will EVER replace Maria,'_ Shadow scolded, scowling at the town bellow him, _'No. One.'_

Suddenly, Shadow's deep train of thought was broken when gravity made its pressense; Pulling Shadow down from his earlier harmless air gliding. And before the dark hedgehog knew it, he landed with a loud;

-SPLASH!-

...in a freakin' pool!

--

The calming warmth was ripped away by the familiar sound of splashing water when one, usually Danny, would do a cannon ball in his family's swimming pool. _'But...who'd be crazy enough to swim so late at night?'_

Blinking back sleep and rubbing his eyes cutely with the back of his hand, Chris slowly risen from the comfort of his bed and stumbled slightly over to his trustful window. Looking through the cool-feeling-glass-against-his-forehead, he was greeted with the bright glow of the family pool. And a strong rippling of water, which proved something fell into it.

_'Oh no!'_ Chris snapped awake, eyes wide, _'What if its the silly squirrel again? He almost died last time for jumping around on the diving board!'_

Spinning on his heels, Chris rushed out of his room and down the stairs, all the while trying to be as quiet as he can. Didn't want to wake Mr. Tanaka or Ella. But in no time, he reached the twin glass doors that would lead to the backyard, and more importantly, the pool!

Pulling the door open with the lightest of trouble, how he was more awake than his body, Chris jogged over to the pool's edge and scanned the body of water. Searching for anything out of place. _Any_thing.

_'There!'_ Chris thought as he spotted something black and sluggish movement; Whether it was thanks to the water or the fact that who ever it is was, maybe, most likely, running out of air. Chris prayed it was just the former before jumping in, diving deep to the bottom of the pool to reach the black form.

Swimming the rest of the way down, Chris was met with something glowing a peircing crimson color, but shrugged it off. He instead snatched what he guessed was the arm to the animal, how his skin felt fur; wet fure, but that couldn't be helped.

His grip tightened only lightly when he felt the other struggle from his touch, and soon after began to swim towards the surface once more. _'Man, this guy is pretty heavey...'_ Chris thought as he swam.

--

'_I can't believe this!'_ Shadow thought darkly, glaring at the blurry hand that he knew held his wrist, _'Some stupid kid is helping me! I bet **Sonic** put him up to it...'_

In no time, Shadow was pulled out of the water completely, hacking a bit from accidently swallowing the pool's water. He felt the hand on his wrist being moved to his back, running up and down it soothingly, almost lulling Shadow to a peaceful state before remembering just who he was and knocking the warm hand away.

"Don't touch me!" he grunted, his throat hurting a bit from his coughing fit.

"Y-you can talk?" a voice full of curious innocense was his reply, almost shocking the hedgehog.

Turning crimson eyes to meet gentle sapphire blue, even though he tried not to, Shadow's breath was taken away by the mear sight of this boy. His chidlish face, gentle expression, and the kind aura that seemed to be shooting at the hedgehog unmercefully reminded him so badly, so _greatly_, of his first friend and crush, Maria.

_'But, that's impossible...'_ Shadow thought, eyes wide, _'No one can compare to my Maria! No one...'_ Locking eyes again, he couldn't shake off the resemblence the two had on each other. _'Now if only his hair was longer and blonde...'_ Shaking the thought off with a blush, Shadow glared.

--

Chris couldn't believe it. The helpless animal he saved wasn't so helpless looking now. And he could talk, too! The glare he was now reseaving reminded him greatly of a spoiled cat, like the one his mother tried to give him, but she "accidently" ran away.

Blinking a bit, he timidly tilted his head to the side, asking as gently as you could, "Are you all right?"

The expression on the hedgehog's face didn't change, but a flicker did seem to flash as soon as he had spoken.

Gulping a bit, Chris tried again, "If-if you need a place to rest, you can stay here. If you want, of course..."

A grunt came from the creature, turning his stern eyes away from Chris, a hint of a blush on his yellow-ish cheeks. "My condition is none of your concern," his deep voice grumbled out, "As for your offer.. I might steal something of yours or kill you in your sleep, so why offer such a thing to a complete stranger?"

"I guess...I just wanted to help," Chris answered shyly, a bit taken aback by the dark furred animal's words, "You can't _not_ trust everyone you meet, you know..."

Those crimson eyes shot back at his soft blue, looking as if searching for something in them. Slowly as if time itself was slowing down, the hedgehog was leaning in closer to Chris, their breathes gently mixing with the others. Just as a blush burned his cheeks, realizing just what was about to happen, a loud crash of something falling through a tree, branches cracking and leaves violently fluttering, before it ended with a dull thud on the ground just behind him.

_'What in the--?'_ Chris thought, shocked, and turned his head to see just what had caused the awful noise.

--

Sonic couldn't feel his toes. Or legs. Or his arms, body, tail, spikes, ears...namely, he couldn't feel a thing but a dull ache. Even though the pool's water was his enemy, Sonic silently wished it was that he had fallen into instead of the tree.

"Oh my, are you okay?" a worried, but gentle voice asked almost amediately after his rough fall. He could almost feel the arm touch of fingers, most likely belonging to the speaker, but they stopped from desending to his battered from when a familiar voice spoke up.

"Leave it," he spoke in an ordering tone, "Before you get infected with his nasty deceases...I wouldn't want to stay in your house with that all over you."

"Y-you mean..?" a hopeful tone came into that wonderful voice.

"Sure," Shadow replied with a shrug, "I have nowhere else to go."

"That's great!" Man, that happiness was even making Shadow look giddy, "But we have to be quiet. I don't want anyone upset so early at night."

"Fine."

"W-wait..." Sonic's voice cut in, arm shakily out stretched as he snatched a bundle of fabric; _Wet_ fabric.

"Ah! Are you okay? Where does it hurt?" the worried tone returned again, with a moan of displeasure from Shadow that his plan to leave the blue hedgehog out there to die had failed.

"Everywhere..." he grunted out, forcing one green eye open to get a look at the boy.

His remaining breath was tooken from him at the sight of wet, pale skin, floppy, yet soft orange colored hair, and gentle sapphire orbs that spoke of every hidden emotion; Which, at the moment, was filled with worry, gilt, and a tentative look of wanting to help in any way he could.

_'Damn...'_ was the only thing Sonic could put into words at the sight before him.

A soft smile curved up the boy's face as he gently spoke, "Lets get you inside. I'm sure you'll feel better in the morning..."

--

It took a bit of begging, but Chris finally won over Shadow and was now helping both hedgehogs find a comfortable place to rest for the night; In his bedroom!

The blue hedgehog seemed to want to sleep on his window ceil, but Chris was able to pressuade him to rest in a much softer spot, what with his wounds and all. As for the black furred one... He seemed a bit reluctant to leave Chris' side but even _more_ reluctant to let his guard down anywhere _near_ the other humanoid animal.

In the end, though, Chris was now cuddled inbetween both, on his own bed. With a pleased sigh, he let his eyes flutter closed, enjoying the warmth both animals gave him that his blankets could not. It was only just as sleep was about to claim him did one of the hedgehogs speak.

"Almost forgot..." it was the blue one, with his cocky, deep voice, "The names Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."

Smiling softly, Chris replied, "My name is Christopher Thorndyke...But you can just call me Chris."

"All right...Chris," Sonic cuddled even closer to the said boy's side, being lulled into a deep sleep by his warmth.

Just as Chris was about to do the same, a deeper voice cut in with one simple word; "Shadow."

"Huh?" Chris slurred, blinking his eyes tiredly at the other hedgehog in question.

"My name," he spoke again, muffled a bit by Chris' pajamas, "Its Shadow."

"Oh..." with a relaxed sigh, Chris let out a tired, "Okay, then... Good night, Shadow..."

"...'Night," Shadow replied softly, blinking up at Chris' face as he drifted back to sleep. Crimson eyes flashed in the dark room, before he, too, became too comfortable to remain awake.

-----

**_-tsuzuku-_**


	2. Cat Food And Goodbye Kisses

**Rivalry of the Heart**

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Pairing(s): Sonic x Chris, Shadow x Chris

Summary: What if it wasn't Sonic who fell in Chris' pool, but instead... Shadow? And what if Chris had a special connection with the Chaos Emeralds? Eggman isn't going to like this...Or is he..?

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Chapter 2;  
Cat Food And Good-bye Kisses 

-----------------

The morning after the incident in the pool at midnight, Chris found himself out on the balcony, talking to his mother on the phone as Mr. Tanaka poured some healthy tea for the young master. The two hedgehogs were in their own "hiding" places while Tanaka did his work, so Chris didn't worry too much about the two.

"Oh, Chris, why would you do such a thing so late at night?" his mother's voice called through the phone, sounding worried.

"Its not like that, Mama," Chris replied, smiling a bit nervously, "You see..." Turning blue sapphire orbs up to Sonic, who watched him lazily on the roof top, he continued, "A cat fell in and I couldn't just leave him to drown..."

"Oh, you are so kind," she sighed, relieved, "But promise me not to do anything so reckless again, all right sweetie?"

"Yes, Mama," Chris nodded, even though he knew she couldn't see it.

"Well, I must be going," her voice spoke, a bit reluctantly, "I love you, Chris. Good-bye."

"I love you, too, Mama," Chris smiled softly, hearing the sound of his mother's lips smacking the phone before doing the same. That done, he hung up the phone with a light blush now on his cheeks.

Hearing a grunt, Chris looked up just in time to watch Sonic jump from his spot on the roof to sit on the balcony railing closest to the young orange haired boy. "So, this cat..." Sonic started a bit grumpily, "Was it Shadow?"

At the sound of his name, the dark furred hedgehog walked out of his hiding place, which happened to be behind a couple of tall flowered plants. Glaring at the other, Shadow grunted, "I'm not a cat."

"I'm sorry," Chris frowned, worry coming to his eyes, "I didn't mean to upset you. Its just that hedgehogs here are a lot smaller. Like this," he added, showing the height with both his hands, "But you're different. You're both a lot bigger and can talk!"

"Hn," Shadow grunted, stepping up to be at Chris' side but appearing not to care.

"How did you learn to talk, anyway?" Chris asked, turning questioning eyes up to Sonic.

"I dunno..." Sonic mumbled, glaring down at Shadow for being so close to the boy, "Its too far back, I can't remember."

"Oh..." was his slightly disappointed and sympathetic reply. But before he could say anymore, the phone in his hand began to ring, and so turning his attention away from the two. "Moshi moshi?"

"Hello, Chris?"

"Ah! Hello, Papa!"

--

Shadow silently watched as Chris finished another conversation on the phone, this time with this human he called "Papa" and not the female now known as "Mama." Hearing the click as a signal of being able to speak again, Shadow started to ask, but was cut off by Sonic's annoyed sniff and shake of the head.

To Shadow's amusement, though, a blush struck Chris' cheeks at this, along with a cute, shy smile. Shaking it off, Chris suddenly asked, "What do you eat?"

"Eat?" Shadow asked, blinking in shock. He had forgotten about food after being sent to this world and the boy before him wasn't helping those nonexistent thoughts.

"What do hedgehogs here eat?" Sonic, always the curious one.

"Well, I checked on the internet and it said they like to eat this," Chris explained as he walked over to the table Mr. Tanaka's tea was last placed and set the phone down, picking up a dog bowl and showing the contents to the blue hedgehog.

Blinking in curiosity himself, Shadow watched as Sonic picked up one of the funny looking brown pieces; Sniffing, scanning with emerald eyes, and finally, plopping it into his mouth. And the dark one was pleased with the result.

--

_'It...tastes...HORRIBLE!'_ were Sonic's thoughts as he hacked and stuck out his tongue to get the vile taste from his mouth. _'How in the world...No, how in THIS world would any animal or man want to eat something so...so...VILE!'_

"Ah, are you okay?" Chris yelped, shocked by Sonic's sudden reaction. He wasn't expecting THIS of all things, after all.

"Wha-what in the hell was THAT?" Sonic gasped between coughs and hacks, trying to remove the horrid taste from his mouth as best he could.

"Ahh...Well," blushing with a shy and nervous smile, Chris held up the bowl as if it held all the answers as he simple spoke, "Its cat food."

_'Cat...Food...?'_ Sonic's eyes widened slowly, the look of disgusted turning to one of horror at the mention of the animal Chris had spoken of on the phone with his mother. _'First he calls Shadow a cat, and now he's feeding me cat food? This is INSANE!'_

Jumping up to his feet, still perched on the railing, Sonic made a spitting motion towards the garden bellow them, scowling in frustration at the whole cat subject, even if the boy meant nothing bad by it. It wasn't his fault he didn't know what hedgehogs ate in the anthro's world. But Sonic didn't care at the moment. All he wanted was a good meal. Something to fill up his empty belly. And this..._cat food_... wasn't going to cut it.

"Listen," the blue hedgehog spoke up, sniffing a bit with his anger, "I'm going to snatched up some _real_ food in town. I'll be back later."

Just as Sonic was about to jump down from the balcony railing and run off to fetch some of this said food, Chris' sweet voice stopped him in his tracks as he cried worriedly, "But its not safe for you to go out. What if someone sees you and get caught? They might think you as some alien or dangerous weapon, how animals can't talk, and perform odd tests on you!"

Staring at Chris' innocent face for a few seconds, Sonic smiled one of his famous cocky grins, replying, "Relax. I'll be right back." With that, Sonic jumped down to the grassy land, turned to Chris one more time when he heard the boy cry his name, and giving the redhead a wink, sped off to Station Square for something edible...Like a chili dog, perhaps.

--

"Sonic! Matte!"

Huffing a relieved sigh, Shadow turned his stern gaze up at Chris' flustered form. "Forget him," he ordered simple, getting the boy's blue eyes to return his stare with a gentler one. Seeing the worry still in the other's gaze, the black hedgehog only shrugged, replying with an uncaring, "He'll be back. He's like a bad itch. One that no matter how many times to try to scratch away, it will _always_ come back."

Chris stared down at the hedgehog for a moment, thinking his words over before giggling despite the harsh meaning that was directed to the blue runaway hedgehog.

"Shadow, that's cruel," Chris scolded, but it came out more mockingly so, thanks to his sudden bout of giggles. How embarrassing!

Smirking despite himself, Shadow turned on his heels, walking back into the mansion as he called over his shoulder, "I only speak the truth, kid. Only the truth."

--

_'What an odd bunch...'_ Chris thought to himself. Though his words may have been insulting to both hedgehogs, he only thought them with admiration. They were much more free then he would ever be. Able to come and go as they pleased, and with such speed! And all he could do was walk around in his family's mansion like a good little rich boy and stay out of trouble...

Sighing, the redhead went back into the mansion himself, sitting down on the couch while watching Ella take his breakfast plates back into the kitchen to clean up. Once the large woman was out of sight, though, the familiar black furred hedgehog made his appearance known, sitting down with a bit of stiffness next to Chris.

"..."

Hearing the almost silent sound of lips moving, but no words accompanying it, Chris turned sapphire blue eyes down at the ruffled hedgehog, watching silently as Shadow tried to spit whatever he wanted to say out. Blinking a bit in curiosity, Chris finally gave a helping hand as he asked, "What is it, Shadow?"

"..." sighing, Shadow turned his hard crimson eyes up to meet Chris' blue, finally mustering up enough will to speak. "I was curious... as to why you..."

Tilting his head cutely, Chris gave another push, seeing as Shadow wasn't going to say any more any time soon with out it. "As to why I did...what?"

"That phone..." growling in frustration, Shadow glared at the boy in front of him for making it even more difficult to speak to him with that cute looking face of his, and yet able to push him to actually speak his mind at the same time, "Why did you...kiss it..?"

A blush slapped Chris' face at this. This question totally threw him off guard!

Chuckling lightly, the redhead ran a hand through his reddish brown locks, looking up at the ceiling, far from Shadow's own piercing gaze. And he thought the crude remark on Sonic making him have a giggling fit was embarrassing! Jeesh!

Silence filled the room, consuming it. If it wasn't for Ella's faint humming in the kitchen, Chris would of felt very small and alone right then. Very small, alone, and burning beet red. But then again, he already felt beet red, so I guess you can cross that part out.

Hearing the sound of Shadow clearing his throat, whether to get Chris' attention to answer his question, or feeling just as awkward as Chris and needing to break the silence, the boy didn't know. But, knowing he'd feel bad for not answering the black furred humanoid's question, and after it took so much of a struggle to get the words out, he finally answered;

"Mama and Papa...Ah, they try to be good parents, even when they're away most of the time."

"..But, what's that got to do with why you kiss a phone?" Shadow asked, suddenly looking oddly cute with that curious look flashing through his usually hard eyes. Which Chris couldn't help to smile sweetly at.

"Its because Mama and Papa, if they were actually here to say good-bye to me when they leave, would give me a kiss from both of them. Its there way of showing their love for their only child, I guess... I never really thought about it before." Giggling a bit at this, Chris added a, "Silly, huh?"

_'A kiss good-bye..?'_ Before Shadow could think of what he was saying, the words of, "I've never gotten one of those..." slipped past his lips. Snapping back to himself, a blush staining his own yellow furred cheeks, the black hedgehog scolded in his mind, _'WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT! You idiot! Of course you never got one! The only one who did say good-bye to you died while sending you into space! You'd never gotten a chance!'_

"Really?" Chris chirped, interested with the conversation now. Smiling that sugary sweet smile of his, the redhead responded, "How about I make a promise?"

"...On what..?" Shadow asked, uncertain if this was a good thing or not. Though the kid reminded him greatly of Maria, he still knew nothing on what made the boy tick. He could be a wolf in sheep's clothing, for all he knew!

"I'll make a promise, that whenever the day comes to send you back where ever you came from, I will give you a kiss good-bye. Does that sound okay?"

Blinking up at the innocent smile on the boy's features, Shadow slowly, but surely, nodded his head, replying with a mumbled, "I guess..."

Smiling widely, Chris was about to add something when a blue blur came into the room, bouncing on the couch on Chris' other side. Before he knew it, a chili dog was being shoved in front of his face as a hyper Sonic asked a bit too eagerly, "Wanna bite? Its DELICIOUS!"

With an unsure smile, Chris could only sweatdrop as Shadow began to snap at Sonic for being a careless idiot, which followed by Sonic growling back at Shadow with being a heartless bastard. _'Like I've said before...'_ Chris thought with a sigh, smiling lightly in amusement at the two, _'What an odd bunch...'_

-----

_**-tsuzuku-**_


	3. Rescues Plan for Creamy Bunnies

**Rivalry of the Heart**

-----

Pairing(s): Sonic x Chris, Shadow x Chris

Summary: What if it wasn't Sonic who fell in Chris' pool, but instead... Shadow? And what if Chris had a special connection with the Chaos Emeralds? Eggman isn't going to like this...Or is he..?

-----

Chapter 3;  
Rescues Plan for Creamy Bunnies and Cheesy Chaos 

-----------------

_"Due to incredible speeds, it's difficult to make out the image. Here are interviews with the people who were on the scene..."_

_"It's about this big, blue, and looked like a hedgehog. And there was another one, that looked just the same, only black with red streaks."_ Said a chubby cop, showing the height with his hand that showed about it being higher then his waist line.

_"It went really fast, it passed by me going "screeeech" that way!"_ Spoke a civilian still in his own car, moving his hand past his face in a speedy show to state his point.

_"I'm not kidding! I think it was going faster then Mach Five!"_ A chubby civilian, leaning against his own car, spoke seriously, yet still skeptical.

_"Well, it could be a 'U.M.A.'"_ started a skinny scientist who held a hyper monkey that had a fetish with the man's glasses, _"If you're wondering if it can be a being from earth, then... my answer is 'no.' The fastest animal is a cheetah but they don't run faster than a car. An animal with such speed does not exist."_

"Is it tasty?" came Chris' curious voice over the TV's volume.

_"It would be easier to simply think it's a machine,"_ the same scientist finished.

"More or less," was Sonic's simple reply.

Shadow, on the other side of Chris, grimaced at being forced to have to listen to Sonic's endless munching on those...ugh... _chili_ dogs. _'How can he EAT that crud?'_ the dark furred hedgehog wondered, glaring with a disgusted look on his face at the other.

Suddenly, another sound caught his black ears. And this one not as disgusting, but more troubling. What with that fact that they were suppose to keep hidden, and the sound of someone's footsteps quickly heading their way wasn't a good sign.

"Hey, Chris..." Shadow started in a soft voice, making sure Sonic didn't hear the worry in his tone.

"What is it, Shadow?" Chris asked, turning his attention over to the other hedgehog for only a second, as the sound of the door to his right being shoved open quickly caught his interest.

"Did you hear, Chris?" an old man cheerfully shouted, running into the room like a child would on Christmas morning, "They said that what could most likely outrun the S Team was some kind of machine!"

Suddenly looking down at the blue critter at the boy's side that the older man had over looked when first barging in, the look of shock surprise wasn't far off from his features. Looking from the hedgehog to the TV, a connect was finally made!

Acting quickly, Shadow snatched a pillow and tried to hide behind it, but was discouraged from that plan as the redhead snapped it from him, throwing it over the other hedgehog in an attempt to save Sonic from being discovered. Too bad Sonic wasn't in the mood to participate in being suffocated by a pillow. Something that made Shadow very disappointed in.

"HEY!" was Sonic's muffled cry, "What are you doing? Take it off!"

The old man blinked in slight confusion, looking at Chris with curiosity as the said boy gave a nervous chuckle. Things weren't looking up, especially when Sonic finally got up enough strength to toss the pillow off of himself and out of Chris' own grip.

Huffing when finally freed, Sonic crossed his arms, pouting stubbornly. How dare that kid do something so cruel to him! He was Sonic the Hedgehog! He deserved better treatment then being killed by a freakin' pillow! But then, the kid was lucky to be too cute or else Sonic would of whacked Chris on the back of the head as a warning. _'Curse the cuteness factor!'_

Shadow wanted to burst out laughing. _Mockingly_, of course. But even for him, it would be a feet he'd rather save for a more... serious time. Like when he finally showed that idiot how more superior he was. But in the mean time, he let a smug grin grace his lips. Things were getting interesting by the minute.

The old man, still a bit skeptical, slowly scanned Sonic over. Starting from head and moving down to his spiked tail, he slowly whispered out, "Blue... Looks like a hedgehog..." A gasp passed his lips as he straightened from his leaning position over the hedgehog, before a second, and louder gasp rose as a wide smile curved on his lips.

As quickly as he entered, the old man pounced on Sonic, wrapping his arms around the other to keep the blue hedgehog from escaping. Chris scooted back a bit, not wanting to be in the elder's crossfire, while Shadow tried to suppress a content smirk at having the boy sitting way closer to him then before. And that same smirk only got wider as he watched the old man's next action on his good ole "friend."

"Hey-hey-hey! Wait!" Sonic snapped, trying to shove the elder man away but failing badly.

From out of nowhere, the man pulled out a screw driver, holding it up for all to see as it sparkled like some holy item. Smirking to himself, the old man went straight away to trying to find the "machine's" screws to open it and see how it was made.

"What is this thing made of..?" the elder mused to himself aloud.

"AH! Stop!" Sonic yelped, a look of utter discomfort falling over his features as he continued to try and struggle out of the man's relentless grasp. And luckily for him, this time, the blue hedgehog was able to achieve just that, what with the man's other hand being too busy trying to poke holes into his flesh. Jumping high, the disturbed hedgehog landed safely around the table that kept him separate from that crazy old man.

Shocked at first, the older man quickly snapped out of it as he pointed his screw driver in the other's direction, demanding, "Don't run away!" in a challenging voice. At his side, Chris silently watched in curiosity and worry and Shadow silently cackled at Sonic's misfortune.

Suddenly snapping out of his own confusion, Chris took this time to save the poor hedgehog as he gently spoke up, "Umm... Grandpa..."

_'GRANDPA!'_ both hedgehog's thought with shock. This kooky old man was the grandfather to their perfect angel? Holy shi--!

"He's..." Chris started again, interrupting both their thoughts, "Sonic isn't a machine."

Chris' now known grandfather stood up from his position on the couch, screw driver forgotten as it slipped through his fingers from the shock of this newfound information. Silence greeted the room then from the once wild activities that had taken place. And thanks to this newfound silence, the TV was once again dominating the living room.

_"Stay away, please!"_ came a gentle voice of a little girl, _"I'm scared!"_

_"Chao!"_ was the girl's odd reply.

"Huh?" Sonic blinked, shocked to hear such familiar voices that he did not expect to hear while in this world. Turning sharply to the TV, Sonic glared at the picture that presented itself.

_"Please, stay away!"_ the same girl cried, hugging a blue creature close to her as she shivered in fear, sitting on top of a bulletin board that promoted some soda pop.

"Its Cream and Cheese!" Sonic gasped out, shocked to see the two on the Thorndyke's television tube. _'They're here, too...?'_

A soft gasp escaped Chris' lips at this, curiosity once again taking over as he asked, "You know them?"

"Ya, its the idiot's friends," Shadow finally spoke up, looking bored at the TV, "Or at least two of them. And the youngest of the group, too..."

"Ah! Th-there are two hedgehogs here!" Chris' grandfather yelped, shocked to have not noticed the silent other.

"So I wasn't the only one who came to this strange world..." Sonic whispered to himself aloud, a determined look crossing his features, totally ignoring everyone else in the room. "All right, wait for me!" he suddenly announced to the girl on the TV, quickly making his way out of the manor with great speed.

Shadow blinked in slight shock at the sudden depart, only to quickly jump off his own seat to follow the redhead as Chris made a quick dash towards the front door. Watching from Chris' side, the young boy called after the disappearing form of the blue hedgehog, yelling, "Do you even know where it is?"

Watching as the reckless hedgehog destroyed a neat line of bushes in his rush, Sonic skidded to a stop only to quickly dash back towards the other two watching after him. It was only until he reached Chris once more did the blue anthro stop, finally, shrugging with a silly grin on his face.

_'Its just like him to act without thinking...'_ Shadow huffed, glaring at the other with distaste, _'The mindless fool...'_

Silently, Chris almost agreed with the black hedgehog, only with less hatred and more amusement.

--

In the garage where Chris' grandfather, now known as Chuck, had most of his knickknacks of inventions, reminding Sonic greatly of his missing two tailed partner, the three found themselves in full attention to the elder man. Sighing in great thought, the old man started off with his plans to help the anthro save his friends.

"Okay," he began, talking on the phone with one of his old friends he had asked for help, "Yes, that'll be helpful. Sorry, I'll treat you to lunch next time." Putting down the phone, Sonic turned his attention away from one of the many devices to give the elder half an ear to see what the man had picked up. "The police said they were transferred to Area 99."

"Area 99?" Chris repeated a little defeated.

"What's Area 99?" Shadow questioned, raising an eye in query.

"Its a military laboratory," Chris explained, turning to his grandfather for reassurance, "Right?"

Looking up at Chris with a blank stare, Sonic wondered aloud, "Military?" _'What is a military..?'_

Turning his attention to the blue hedgehog, Chris gave a small nod. "Yes, the National Defense Force with tanks, armed cars, and other weapons."

"Almost sounds like Eggman's place," Shadow mused over, before adding, "Well, besides the fact that he cares more for robots then anything else. As long as it can crush _you_, Sonic, he doesn't care."

Growling at the other, Sonic turned his attention back to the redhead and his grandfather. "I hate to admit it, but Shadow is right," Sonic huffed, "It really does sound like that creep, Eggman.."

"To be taken to the military's laboratory means that they want to research them," Chuck interrupted Sonic's sulking, returning full attention to himself, "Like aliens from outer space or-" looking down at Sonic's curious green orbs, "some kind of biological weapon that another country developed. But what really happens there, eh?"

"Like I'd know," Sonic shrugged off, putting up the look of not caring for a word the old man spoke anymore. It was getting rather annoying, anyways... "Well, now that I know where the place is, I'm going."

Marching his way to the exit of the garage, Chris' worried words followed after him quickly, "But if you do that, they'll catch you, too!"

Smirking in bemusement, Shadow responded calmly, "Let him go. He's just a pain in your neck if you let him stay. He'll only complain and whine until he gets his way."

"Stop talking about me like I'm a spoiled brat, Shadow," Sonic snapped, before smirking in reassurance towards the young boy as he replied to his earlier worry, "And don't worry about me. They can't catch me if they catch match up to my speed." With that, the blue hedgehog turned to leave, only to find the garage door close in front of his face. Growling deep in his throat, an annoyed look crossing his usual carefree features, Sonic snapped his head around as he snapped, "What're you doing?"

"I-it wasn't me!" Chris yelped, waving his hands in front of himself as his only defense, not use to Sonic's glares. It was only after his grandfather chuckled did the culprit to Sonic's capture make itself known.

"It was me," Chuck announced proudly. Seeing Sonic's dumbfounded expression, Shadow almost mirroring that same look, only from behind Chris' form, the old man continued excitedly, "It looks like fun! My blood is excited!"

"Even you, Grandpa?" Chris questioned with shock and worry. It was odd how he was stuck with the oddest family members... Even if most of them were always away, working.

Smirking down at his grandson, Chuck announced for the boy, "You're also going. Don't you always tell me you refuse to have a boring life like your father?"

"Tha-that's a secret!" Chris smiled shyly, chuckling lightly as he joked with his grandfather, "You can't say that to Papa!"

Chuck laughed good naturedly as he agreed, "I know."

Silently, both hedgehogs watched the small family bond the two shared, curious with this new fact about Chris' dream life. _'So the boy wants a more interesting life, eh?'_ Shadow and Sonic both thought almost as one, smirking with interest, _'That can be arranged...'_

-----

_**-tsuzuku-**_


	4. Stolen Brownie Points

**Rivalry of the Heart**

-----

Pairing(s): Sonic x Chris, Shadow x Chris

Summary: What if it wasn't Sonic who fell in Chris' pool, but instead... Shadow? And what if Chris had a special connection with the Chaos Emeralds? Eggman isn't going to like this...Or is he..?

-----

Chapter 4;  
Stolen Brownie Points 

-----------------

The sun beamed down hotly around them, but the breeze made by the rushing wind around them that freely hit them thanks to the topless, and sleek, car kept them at a reasonable temperature. The desert around them was very plain, boring both Shadow and Sonic. It didn't help that they both could of been to their, or at least the blue anthro's, destination by now, if Chuck didn't insist on coming along.

"This thing is going so slow! Geez..." Sonic finally announced, arms crossed as he sat in the back seat next to Shadow. Though the black hedgehog agreed, he remained silent. No way was he going to insult anyone close to Chris. He wasn't stupid like Sonic.

Turning to look back at the irritated hedgehog, Chuck happily smiled as he spoke in a just as carefree tone, "Oh come on!" From the front of the car, Chris suddenly stopped his endless searching that he had started though half the drive, sitting up straight as he held a device neither anthro could see.

"Is this it?" he asked, holding out so only his grandfather could see.

"Oh, yes, yes!"

Happy with the affirmative, Chris twisted in his seat to hand the device to Sonic, beaming just as happily as the old man, but a lot more cutely so. Seeing the confused look on Sonic's face once the device at hand was... well, in hand, Chris continued to smile as he pointed to his head as he instructed, "Put it on."

"What is it?" Sonic questioned, keeping his eyes trained on the redhead. _'He's so cute smiling!'_

"An infrared scope," spoke Chuck, not even bothering to keep his eyes on the empty road. "Most likely, in Area 99 there will be plenty of traps," the old man began to explain, "But if you use that, you should be able to avoid them."

Without saying anything else, Sonic quickly understood. As he placed it onto his face, it covered his right ear and eye, making it so half of his vision was now in pink. Ignoring that, the blue furred anthro gave Chuck and Chris two thumbs up, before calmly turning his attention to unbuckling the seatbelt Chris had forced him to wear. Once off, Sonic easily jumped out of the car, over Shadow's head, and landed onto the road next to the stylish car, running right next to Chris. Looking towards the two, he called out a polite, "Thank you!"

"Be careful, okay?" Chris reminded, looking worried once more, smile forgotten.

"I will," Sonic winked, "Well, I'm going ahead!" With that, the hedgehog kicked up the speed, dashing faster and out of distance before anything else could be said, a trail of dust the only thing left of their furry friend.

An amazed "aah" came from Chris at the sudden speed, while his grandfather gave a soft, "He's so fast...!" Beaming again, amazement pushed aside, Chuck yelled, "ALL RIGHT!" stepping on the pedal with renewed excitement, speeding so fast that Chris was forced to sit INTO his seat, instead of on it.

_'Show off...'_ Shadow grumbled silently, glaring after the other. What the two in the front seat didn't know, was that while Sonic jumped over him, he had also _purposely_ whacked the black hedgehog with his foot. But even pissed off, Shadow let an evil grin twist his lips as he thought, _'If that's your way of a challenge, you'll be extremely sorry.'_

--

_"Can you hear me, Sonic?"_

Chris' voice rang like silver bells in Sonic's right ear, making the hedgehog feel on top of the world. He had been running for just a few minutes and already missed the boy by his side. It was a real treat.

Remembering Chris had asked a question, Sonic quickly responded, "Yeah!" before he worried his little redhead any more then he already did.

_"When you get in, head of the air vents,"_ Chris instructed. _"From there, you should be able to pass security."_ There was a slight pause, before Chris ended, _"Got it?"_

"All right!"

_"But do you know where they're locked up?"_ came a faint question from Chris, most likely directed to Chuck, instead of Sonic.

_"Of course!"_ Chuck announced loudly, taking away the device from Chris so he could talk into it, without needing to yell over the car motor or rushing wind, _"Head for a suspicious place, and if you go there you should be able to find our objective."_

_"No way!"_ an even fainter Chris spoke in disbelief, _"How irresponsible!"_

"Oh well, I'll take care of that!" Sonic shouted into his own device, hoping the redhead could still hear him as well. It upset the blue hedgehog a little to know he was unable to listen to Chris' soothing voice now that Chuck had taken control, but it was fun while it lasted.

Increasing his speed once more, Sonic dashed quickly towards the tall fence of Area 99, jumping over it with ease and speeding so quickly that the cameras were unable to get a shot of him. Still, even despite his speed, a warning sound could be heard, chiming _"Intruder detected."_ Smirking proudly at his handy work, Sonic continued to run without faltering, spotting the said air vents Chris had spoken of. Without slowing down, Sonic made a mad dive for it, easily slipping in.

"I'm in the air vents!" Sonic announced as he slid down bellow, deeper into the building.

_"Roger!"_ Chris' voice sung through again, telling Sonic that his redhead had gained the device back once more. _'Oh joy!'_ Sonic thought happily.

But Sonic's inner cheer was cut to a halt as the slide down ended abruptly, rump crashing down on the metal, that made the air vent, harshly. Rubbing his butt and spiky tail, the blue hedgehog mumbled, "I managed to get pretty close..." Ignoring his sore rump, Sonic turned his attention back to the mission, talking to himself as he said, "Well, now, lets see..."

With the pink vision, Sonic was able to see the millions of red lasers that would activate the real alarm at the slightest touch. There was NO way he'd be able to squeeze though those without blowing his cover! Speaking these thoughts without knowing, Chris' voice questioned, _"What did you just say?"_

Looking around for another way out, Sonic gave a short, "Nothing."

--

"Will he be okay..?" Chris spoke silently to himself, sitting up from his seat as Chuck pulled the car to a stop, looking over Area 99 from a high cliff.

Seeing his chance, Shadow finally spoke, "Don't worry about him. He's stubborn, so whatever happens, he'll make it out of there alive... And with such a place like this, he'll come out without even a scratch."

Turning to look at the black hedgehog, Chris gave him a warm smile, a small pink blush showing on his cheeks. "Thank you, Shadow."

Such a look made even Shadow blush, mouth open agape in total awe. Never had a human looked at him in such a way... Well, not that he could remember anyways. And to be given such a sight by none other then Chris himself?

Smiling shyly, looking sideways at the car door next to him, Shadow gave a calm, uninterested, "Its nothing. Only stating a fact, that's all."

"Still, Shadow," the redhead giggled, moving from his seat so he could sit back with the black hedgehog. Once there, Chris engulfed the anthro in a even warmer hug, whispering into one of the pointed ears, "Its really kind of you, to even bother to reassure me. So, thank you very much."

"Y-you're welcome..." Shadow murmured, thanking whoever could read his mind that he had fur to cover the deep blush now on his cheeks. If this kept up, he might even get a bloody nose! But letting the perverted thoughts die, Shadow rose his own arms to embrace Chris in a hug of his own, finishing his earlier stuttered words with a calm, "...Chris."

--

Just as Sonic finally reached his destination, he was hit with another problem. How in the world was he going to get in there without being noticed!

Luckily for him, he didn't have to take too long to figure out a plan. The lights died without warning, alarming the men in white suits as they panicked and wondered what had caused the black out, completely forgetting the bunny anthro and her chao friend. Taking this as his chance, Sonic snuck in without trouble, making his way towards Cream and Cheese.

Smashing the glass to free the two, Sonic quickly grabbed them and hid, listening as the men panicked even more at the noise, calling, "What was that!"

"Soni--!" Cream cried happily, but cut off quickly as Sonic made a harsh, "shh!"

But the effort was lost to Cheese, who happily cued in its own language, jumping up to wrap its little arms around Sonic's neck as it rubbed it's baby blue face up against the blue anthro's own. Despite the seriousness and need to quickly flee from the place, Sonic couldn't help but smile at the little chaos antics. That is until another man's voice shouted at the noise.

"Who's there!"

"Lets run," Sonic whispered to Cream, handing her her little friend as he did.

"Hai!" she nodded obediently, excepting her friend and the hand that Sonic used to drag her into a run; no where near as fast as he usually went, but enough to keep the two out of danger from those scientists.

Running down the now dark hallway, Cream finally felt it safe to talk with no one else near.

"Did you do this, Sonic-san?" she questioned with a smile, happy to be with a friend again.

"Nope, it wasn't me," Sonic responded truthfully, smiling despite it, "I can't do that much."

Giggling breathlessly, from the run, Cream spoke, "I think that maybe you have something that brings good luck."

"Oh ya?"

Just to spite them, though, the lights, including the power to Area 99, shot back alive, the sudden surprise stopping the two in their tracks. Especially when those cameras that were now trained on them.

_'This might be trouble...'_

"Maybe... Sorry, I must have done something-" Cream started, feeling suddenly guilty for their sudden predicament.

"You have nothing to do with it," Sonic reassured in a calming voice, but refused to turn his green eyes away from the problem at hand. Which was a good thing, for if he had, he might of missed it as the camera's opened up a secret compartment that held an odd looking device within. Recognizing that certain device, thanks to countless encounters with Eggman, Sonic hissed out, "Shit! Lets go!"

"Okay," Cream got out, before Sonic dragged her along once more.

Good thing, too, for if they had waited another minute, one of those white light laser raises would of hit the two easily. But Sonic paid little attention to that, keeping his full focus on getting the hell out of this building, alive, with Cream and Cheese in toe.

--

Outside of Area 99, from on top of the cliff, Chris turned his attention away from Shadow as soon as the alarms had blared though the air, reaching their own ears clearly. Worry etched its way a crossed Chris' features again at this, pulling the device to contact Sonic on quickly.

"Sonic! What happened?" Chris called through the mouth piece, hoping the anthro could still hear his voice, "Are you all right?" _'Please be all right...'_ he silently prayed.

_"Don't mind me!"_ Sonic's voice rang through, along with faint sounds of lasers firing in the background. _"Run!"_ he spoke to someone else, most likely the girl they were there to save in the first place.

Turning a concerned glance over to Shadow, the black hedgehog gave him a warm smile, nodding in reassurance. "He'll be fine," he repeated once more, glad to know his words were enough for the redhead.

Smiling cutely back, still slightly worried, but reasonably so, Chris nodded. "Un!"

--

After destroying a few cameras and climbing the stairs with only a slight accident of almost loosing Cream and Cheese, the three were now safe on a blue plane, one driven by another anthro; one with two tails.

"Yo!" Sonic called in greeting, ignoring the fact that they were laying helplessly on the plane's wing.

"Hii!" the little fox chirped back, one hand raised in a semi-wave.

"I see! It was you!" Cream announced happily, smiling over at the second youngest of their group.

Winking at the youth, the fox spoke, "Hold on tight and try not to fall!"

Flying over Chuck's car, three pair of eyes were trained on the blue plane. Chris gave a laugh, happy everything had worked out fine. Just as Shadow had told him. Turning to give Shadow an appreciative glance, his grandfather spoke up, cutting off anything Chris had planned to tell the other anthro.

"Well then, shall we get going?"

"MmHmm," Chris nodded, sitting back down in his seat, but this time next to Shadow. It felt... like the right thing to do. And Shadow made no noise of complaint.

--

Back in Chuck's garage, the same blue plane lay innocently in the parking lot, just outside. Inside, Chris was finally able to meet Sonic's three companions and friends. For some odd reason, Chris had a feeling of deja vu. What was it about seeing the two remind him of a fox and bunny sharing flowers? Weird...

"I'm Chris," the redhead shook off his train of thought, focusing on greeting Sonic's friends properly now that they weren't in the cross of danger. "I only made friends with Sonic yesterday."

"I'm Tails," the two tailed fox announced with a carefree smile, "I'm always together with Sonic. Right, Sonic?" Tails looked towards Sonic at that, waiting for a confirmation.

"I guess," Sonic responded without a care, looking smug. _'Damn,'_ he thought inwardly, _'He makes it sound... like we're more then just friends.'_

"I'm Cream," the bunny spoke sweetly, before introducing her little companion, "And this is my friend, Cheese." Together, the two bowed respectfully as the chimed, "Please to meet you!"

"Me, too!" Chris breathed, bowing along with them, "Nice to meet you. We're going to be great friends." Looking over their heads, Chris announced, "And this is my grandpa."

"Incredible," whispered Chuck in amazement, holding a small paper-styled-plane, "I never saw such a remote-controlled airplane."

Turning around to face the old man, Tails finally showed some pride as he tried to shrug off the complement. "Those are nothing special," the fox spoke, both tails wagging happily.

"But..." Chris spoke, his earlier concern for Sonic's safety coming back to him as he glanced at the said hedgehog. Seeing how calm and smug he looked, the redhead couldn't help but snap, "That was really dumb!"

Shadow smirked evilly at this, as Sonic opened his half lidded eyes to glance over at Chris in slight confusion, but keeping on an uncaring air.

"They're the army, you know!" Chris continued to lecture, "It could start a war..."

_'Why's he worried about that..?'_ Sonic wondered, before facing Chris with another smug look. "If that happens, it'll work out fine," the blue anthro reassured without a care in the world.

"That's not the problem I was talking about," Chris huffed.

"Oh?" Sonic responded, shrugging.

"Are you listening?" Chris slightly whined, feeling upset for being shrugged off so easily. "It was so dangerous for me..." the redhead tried to reason, but still received no response. Sighing, he continued, "Because you said it was so dangerous... Its a good thing everything went all right, but... Are you listening? Sonic! _Sonic!_"

By the time Chuck and Tails had finished their own conversation, one that only Cream and Cheese kept an ear on, Chris had puffed up his cheeks in frustration with the blue furred hedgehog. He was completely ignoring the redhead, and smiling the whole time! The _jerk_!

"Geez..." Chris huffed, turning away from Sonic in defeat, but irritation still obvious.

_'Shit!'_ Shadow growled silently, glaring at the blue hedgehog as he let out a confident "heh," arrogantly sticking his pinky finger to scratch the inside of his ear. _'I may of gotten Chris' respect, but he knows exactly how to get Chris' attention. That no good--!'_

"Hey, Sonic..." Tails suddenly spoke, winning the attention of everyone in the room, "You, me, Cream, and Cheese all got caught in that accident, which means... Maybe others were also sent into this world?"

"Other people who were there were..." Sonic spoke aloud in thought, hand raised under his chin, "Knuckles, Amy, and..."

Suddenly, a reminder of the old madman flashed through his mind, along with a Chaos Emerald, which had also been the culprit to the reason they were all there in the first place. And not only did the image flash in Sonic's mind, but in Cream and Tails', as well. Even Shadow thought of the possibilities, but remained silent as the three all cried, "Dr. Eggman!"

--

Somewhere on a small, unimportant island, a tall tower now stood, a robot floating above it to keep watch for any enemies or possible danger. Within the tower, a large round man sat, along with two other robots; one tall and skinny, the other short and stumpy.

"Oooh," hummed the bald man in red, "With Chaos Control, we came into this world. Looks rather plain for a place to be keeping the secret weapon hidden. Oh well!" Grinning widely, he continued, "In this world I'll build my Eggman Kingdom. And soon, we'll conquer other worlds!"

Breaking out into smug laughter, Dr. Eggman started his plan in finding this... _secret_ weapon.

-----

_**-tsuzuku-**_


	5. Ancient Mission

**Rivalry of the Heart**

-----

Pairing(s): Sonic x Chris, Shadow x Chris

Summary: What if it wasn't Sonic who fell in Chris' pool, but instead... Shadow? And what if Chris had a special connection with the Chaos Emeralds? Eggman isn't going to like this...Or is he..?

-----

Chapter 5;  
Ancient Mission 

-----------------

The next day, Chris found himself alone in the house. Sonic and Shadow had gone racing off that early morning, the blue anthro taunting the other on and on, before having to run to avoid being punched in the face. Though, even with the black hedgehog after his head, Sonic still laughed happily as he went, reassuring Chris of any worry of either hedgehog hurting themselves _too_ terribly. But even so, with Tails and his grandfather, Chuck, watering the Tornado, and Cream and Cheese also outside having tea and cookies, it was rather lonely in the Thorndyke Mansion.

Chris also kept having feeling, deep down, that something was about to happen. And whatever it was, would _not_ be a good thing. But _what_? That was the problem...

Sighing, Chris turned his attention away from his odd feelings. There wasn't much he could do, how no one would believe he was having such feelings. Ever since Shadow and Sonic-tachi appeared, that feeling was growing more and more... And they had only been there for three days! _Three_! What sort of trouble could bother him so much in such a short amount of time? And why did he feel that it'd be safer to stay by Sonic and Shadow's sides, instead of in the comfort of his own home? He still barley new them... yet...

_'Oh well...'_ Chris thought with a sigh, shaking his head to rid himself of that train of thought. Turning his blue eyes to the black remote that lay abandoned on the couch, the same couch Sonic and Shadow had sat on either side of him just the day before, the redhead decided to relax to some show on the television. Best way to keep his mind on something else... right?

--

In a basket ball court, young boys played. Shoes scuffed and squeaked as they ran and came to sudden halts, all trying to get the ball and through it into the hoops. A few gave breathless laughs, others scoffed and huffed, too busy wanting to win then to enjoy themselves fully. But none of that really mattered. What mattered, was what was hidden under the sewer plate just in the center of their ball court, deep down in the darkness, surrounded by the stench of garbage and shit, and filthy rats that made such a place their home.

For just bellow their game, were two more anthros. One a red echidna, and the other a pink hedgehog in a just as red dress. As the two walked, the silent echidna couldn't pull his thoughts away from an old memory. A memory of when he was just a child, before taking on the responsibilities he took on now. A memory of the last echidna who had once had his responsibility, in guarding, and protecting, the greatest emerald of their world.

In this memory, the old echidna told him of an old tale. A tragic tale, about the keeper of their great emerald, the true creator of their world. Many years ago, even before that old anthro was born, before many old echidna who had their responsibility as guardian, the keeper lived. Back then, it wasn't their job to protect the great emerald. Oh no, it was to protect the keeper. The one who gave birth to the great emerald, and the seven emeralds of chaos.

What bothered him most about this memory, though, was that he had never bothered to think about it much since he had taken the responsibility as the great emerald's guardian. Never once, did his mind ever stray to the forgotten keeper of their world. So, why was it slipping in now? Why was he remembering the tale so long ago? Why did it matter to him? Why was this new world, this place he had never been to, making him remember something so... insignificant?

And why, most of all, did he keep hearing a voice in his head? Calling to him. Calling him by a name he had never heard, but sounded to familiar. Why was is... so familiar..?

_"Knux-su..."_

Gritting his sharp teeth, the echidna growled, "This is all because of Sonic."

"Its a misunderstanding, Knuckles," the pink hedgehog's voice pierced through the silence, echoing painfully. _'Why does she have to talk so LOUD!'_ Knuckles thought with a growl. "Eggman being in this place..." she continued to try and reason.

"No." the red echidna stated firmly, not backing down and never stopping in his steps, "If it wasn't for Sonic's nonsense, we wouldn't be here."

Suddenly, the anthro girl came to a stop, raising a fist as she demanded, "How can you decide that!"

Looking about at her with violet eyes, but keeping his back to face her, Knuckles finally stopped. A short pause of silent finally ended as he spoke, "Because these things happen every time. Am I wrong?" Even as a question, he sounded sure of himself, if a bit sarcastic. Like he was just humoring the girl.

Puffing up her cheeks a bit, she turned her head skywards to the side, eyes shut in a show of stubbornness, folding her arms a cross her chest as he huffed, loudly still, "The way you blame Sonic for everything is what I hate about you the most!"

"Its fine if you hate me," Knuckles continued in that non-caring, sarcastic drawl, continuing on his way in the sewer without a thought.

"W-wait!" the girl stuttered nervously, stubborn attitude gone and replaced by a scared little girl aura. Raising a hand as if to grab the red echidna's departing form, she called, "You'd leave me here?"

Without faltering, Knuckles returned her call with, "Coming along with someone you hate?"

Not sure how to replay, the pink anthro huffed, hands resting at her hips as she said to herself, "Geez! He's so stubborn!" Shrugging off their little fight, she finally moved again, running in a jog to catch up with her departing friend, calling, "Wait up, Knuckles!"

--

Flipping through channels, Chris was shocked when it changed to the news, showing a tall, but stumpy looking, robot destroying Station Square. An odd looking man was also there, sitting comfortably in a round machine that floated in the air, giving the robot orders every now and then. People screamed through the television, running away as far as they could from this destructive machine.

At the sight, the young boy could feel that deep feeling cry in warning once more. So he wasn't just imagining it! Something bad was really happening! But... what could _he_ do about this...?

_'Sonic! Shadow!'_ Chris remembered with a gasp, jumping from the couch and breaking into a run to his grandfather's garage, where everyone would be, _'I have to tell them..! They'll know what to do!'_

"Sonic!" Chris cried out, making the four, three young anthros and one old man, turn their attention away from what they were doing to look at the redhead, "Shadow!" Coming to an abrupt halt closest to Cream and Cheese, he questioned, in a pant, "Wh-where are they?"

"Sonic-san said he was going for a little walk," Cream said, curious to Chris' urgent tone in his voice.

"I told him it'd be hard to find him if he wandered too far..." Chris spoke, mostly to himself.

"Will he really be that hard to find?" Tails questioned, still spraying his blue plane, but attention fully on the young redhead in front of him, "With Shadow after him, they should be easy to find. Right?"

"I don't know, but..." Chris almost seemed to whimper, pouting a bit.

Frowning, displeased with seeing the boy down himself, Tails tried to bring Chris back to the topic of why he had come running in such a worried state. "In any case..." the two tailed fox started, "Do you need him for something?"

Snapping out of his disappointed thoughts of being unable to find the blue anthro, Chris began to fret as he almost yelled, "There's big trouble! I'm serious!"

--

Tails flew his Tornado over head, looking through the park from above as Chris and Chuck took to looking for the two anthros from below in the old man's car. Standing out in the open, Chris cupped his hands over his mouth as the cried both hedgehog's name, hoping either one would hear and come to his aid.

"They don't seem to be here..." Chuck spoke finally when it seemed Chris was giving up. Seeing the boy turn his blue eyes towards him, his grandfather continued, "Lets go. We'll find them somewhere."

Nodding, Chris ran around the car, jumping into his seat, too much in a hurry to bother opening the door. With that, Chuck sped off to another possible area. No way was he giving up this search!

Just above where their car had been parked, a tooth paste banner was held, showing a woman with bright white teeth and a beautiful snow covered mountain behind her. Somewhere far away, an exact replica, or more along the lines of the _real thing_, of the mountain stood, giving Sonic a nice view of this world's possible beauty.

Smirking at it, Sonic turned his attention away from site-seeing as he sensed the black anthro still at his tail, red eyes burning with revenge as he sped up the mountain the blue anthro stood on top of. Waving lazily, Sonic called, "Byee!" before speeding down the other side, jumping into the large gap between two mountains. Falling into the darkness bellow, Shadow gave a grunt in the other's direction. No way was that arrogant jerk getting away with what he had said!

Jumping down after Sonic, Shadow only gave a small thought to what Chris was doing to pass the time without him around. But it was only a fleeting thought, how beating Sonic to a pulp was a lot more fun at that exact moment in time.

--

Back in the sewer, hidden in darkness, the two anthros still continued their trek to nowhere. The pink hedgehog now slouched as they walked, looking tired. To prove this, she gave a whiney, "Knuckles, can we take a rest?"

"Its all right if you don't follow me," Knuckles spoke, not stopping at all.

Puffing up her cheeks in annoyance, she finally let that anger die as she thought, _'But I'd worry more with Knuckle's on his own...'_ Forgetting her bit of rage, she continued to speak, this time with another subject, "Say, do you think we can go back to the world we came from?"

Turning violet eyes towards her, he replied, "Don't think we're going back, we _ARE_ going back."

"Why is that?" she questioned in return, still uncertain.

"That's what I'm looking for," he told her honestly, with no jibe or bite in his tone. "If any case, if I..." he continued to speak, thoughts of him guarding the great emerald returning to him, "...can't go back, I won't be able to go _there_. Because I... must protect it. Better to die then not be able to do my job." With a short pause, he finished, "That's why I don't have the time to linger around this place." _'And I must figure out who's calling to me...'_ he reminded silently to himself.

Suddenly, a loud pounding was heard from above, shaking the ground they walked. Gasping from shock, Knuckles turned his head up to the source of the noise, seeing a pothole that could lead them out of the darkness. Running to the metal ladder, he questioned, "What is it?" The pink hedgehog followed close behind, but remained silent, for once.

--

Having just seen Dr. Eggman's face over the Thorndyke's television, both Tails and Chris went rushing to the Tornado, jumping in as quickly as they could. Chuck, standing by with Cream and Cheese, demanded, "Tails, take good care of Chris," as the said redhead was buckling himself in.

"I will," the two tailed fox nodded, returning Chuck's stern look with one of his own. Returning his attention back to piloting, Tails cried, "All right! Lets go!"

Hearing a gentle, "Un!" from behind, Tails finally took off, heading quickly in the direction of a bank building, that stood rather high for such a building. Silently, the fox anthro prayed Sonic, or even _Shadow_, if he must, would hear of Eggman's sudden appearance in Station Square.

--

Laughing happily, Sonic sped across road after road, Shadow quick on his tail. They had been at this for hours on end, and yet the blue anthro still found entertainment in teasing the other. It was a lot easier to do this without Chris' sweet voice trying to reassure Shadow that the blue anthro was only playing around.

A faint cry that sounded oddly enough to be Chris' said voice, Sonic came to a quick and sudden stop. Turning his emerald green eyes towards a small crowd of people, the blue hedgehog jumped into a tree just over them to see what they were looking at. Good thing, too, how Shadow almost slugged him in the back of the head if he remained standing there with a blank look on his face.

Shocked, Sonic saw on a couple television screens that the Tornado, with Tails and Chris inside, were flying quickly to dodge attacks from a new robot, most likely made by Dr. Eggman. The plane was a little damaged, having been hit by the time Sonic had ran by, hearing Chris' worried cry as they had almost lost control of the Tornado. From bellow the tree, Shadow could barely make out the television screen himself, but knew something bad was happening. Without concentrating on killing the other, he could sense Chris' panic not too far from where they stood.

Turning cold red eyes up to meet friendly green, the two gave each other a nod. Their fight would be put to a hold, for now. Chris, and Tails, needed their help.

--

"LET AMY GO!"

"Wait, Knuckles!" Eggman's voice cut through, floating quickly to stand between the red echidna and the pink hedgehog, who know was held tightly in the robot's grasp. Doing as the fat man commanded, he continued, "Or his hand will squeeze a little bit more..." As if to demonstrate, the older man snapped his fingers, cuing the robot to prove his point as it, indeed, squeeze Amy harder.

"Nooo! OW!" she cried, feeling the sudden pain of bones wanting to break.

Growling, Knuckles gritted his teeth, not knowing what to do without putting Amy's life in any more danger then it already was. "You coward!" he finally yelled, "Let Amy go!"

"Coward?" Eggman repeated, still grinning despite the insult, "I'm only holding the girl to protect E-23!" Looking around, he spoke to himself, "He's not here..."

_'Is he talking about Sonic..?'_ Knuckles wondered. Usually when Eggman talked about the blue anthro, there was always spite in his tone, but... The way he spoke, it was more of a need. Like he _wanted_ whoever this person he spoke of was.

Suddenly, as if seeming to remember, Eggman gave another look around, saying, "There's still that hedgehog..."

It only proved Knuckles correct. The Doctor wasn't just looking for world domination... but something else as well. But _WHAT_?

Still flying over head, Tails and Chris watched the stand-still that was bellow them. "Sonic still hasn't come..." Tails spoke, worried for his friends.

As Chris watched, concerned as well with the safety of Sonic's friends, the redhead suddenly felt two presences drawing near. Turning his attention away from the action bellow, he could see two blurry trails, one blue and the other black. _'Sonic and Shadow!'_ he realized quickly. Smiling, he shouted for Tails to hear, "Tails! Sonic and Shadow are here!"

"All right!" Tails cheered, maneuvering the plane so they flew past the two almost as car level.

Chris, leaning half way out of the Tornado, held two hands out as he cried, "Here! Take this!" towards the two anthro hedgehogs. As they both reached out to take the offered item from the redhead, two gold rings entered both white gloved hands, giving the two an extra boost of energy to take out the madman Doctor without a problem.

Smirking at Chris, Sonic yelled, "Thank you!" as Shadow gave a grunt of gratitude before the plane was out of ear range, speeding their separate ways; Sonic and Shadow heading for the building, as Tails and Chris continued on, returning to the air to fly high above and watch the action take place.

--

"Our battle isn't over yet!"

Flying away, smoke trailing behind Eggman as he went, Sonic smirked happily at the man's retreating back. Shadow, on the other hand, remain uncaring, attention turning to the plane flying over head and the young boy that sat happily within. It was only when the pink hedgehog cried out Sonic's name did the black anthro give any attention to the two other anthros.

The pink hedgehog came running up to Sonic, wrapping her arms around his neck in a choking grip as she cried, "I'm so glad to meet up with you!" Ignoring Sonic's annoyed, "H-hey--!" she continued on, "I really thought I wouldn't see you again!"

"Hey-- that hurts..." Sonic mumbled out, gritting his teeth in pain and annoyance.

Just then, men in black came charging onto the roof, aiming their guns at the four anthros as one man ordered, "Raise your hands!"

Glaring at them, Knuckles calmly demanded, "What do you want?"

"Just do as we say!" the same man responded, never faltering.

Glaring now with rage, teeth bared in warning, a powerful aura surrounded the red echidna as he yelled in rage, "You guys are pretty rude, aren't you?"

Sweating now in nervousness, the same man in black questioned, "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Sonic!" Tails' voice sudden broke out through the air, pulling Sonic, Shadow, and Amy's attention away from Knuckles and the men in black. "Catch this!" As he yelled, the three spotted a rope ladder flying through the wind, attached to the plane as it flew closer to the roof.

Doing as commanded, Shadow jumped as high as he could to avoid a collision with Sonic and Amy, who subconsciously wrapped an arm around her waist as he grabbed hold on the rope ladder as it flew past with ease. Besides, the black anthro reasoned, he wanted to reach Chris before the blue hedgehog anyways.

Seeing Knuckles had yet to move, Sonic yelled at his friend to get his attention, "Knuckles! Hey!"

Noticing that the red echidna still was yet to budge, Amy cried, "Knuckles! Hurry!"

Finally, Knuckles growling stopped as he gave the men an arrogant smirk, before making a mad dash after the rope ladder as it was making its way away from the root top at that moment. The man began to fire at the red echidna's heels, hoping to knock him off his feet and capture the creature, but each shot was easily dodged. Making a dramatic leap, Knuckles just barely snatched the end of the rope latter, dangling there as Tails piloted away into the distance and just out of town.

"Lets go back to my house!" Chris called down to the others, helping Shadow out as he had climbed his way up the ladder to sit in the redhead's lap comfortably.

Besides him, Tails called to Amy, "Cream and Cheese are waiting for us!"

"Eh, really!" Amy squealed happily. She missed her little girl friend and pet chao. "Everyone will be together again!"

"Sorry, but I have my own things to do!" Knuckles told them, before letting go of the ladder.

"Knuckles!" Amy cried, watching the red anthro fall backwards in the air.

"Farewell!" he yelled to them all, before turning his back to them so he could concentrate on his descent. To Chris, he almost looked like an animal version of Superman, hands out stretched in front of him as he "flew."

"Knuckles..." Amy spoke softly to herself, only Sonic able to hear, "Why...?"

With a slight pause, Sonic responded, "Because he's got his own mission to fulfill." Turning green eyes to look up at Chris and Shadow, he silently spoke, _'Just as I do, in winning this boy's heart...'_

And so they flew, Tornado flying smoothly into the sunset as the day finally came to an end.

-----

**_-tsuzuku-_**


	6. A Kiss On The Cheek

**Rivalry of the Heart**

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Pairing(s): Sonic x Chris, Shadow x Chris

Summary: What if it wasn't Sonic who fell in Chris' pool, but instead... Shadow? And what if Chris had a special connection with the Chaos Emeralds? Eggman isn't going to like this...Or is he..?

-----

Chapter 6  
A Kiss On The Cheek 

-----------------

"Because of Chaos Control... Time and space was warped and you guys were sent over to this world is what I understand, but... Just what is this Chaos Control effect and these Chaos Emeralds?" Chris asked, early that morning, in his grandfather's loft above the garage. The five anthros, Amy, Tails, Cream, Shadow, and Sonic were all there, along with Cheese, who sat comfortably in the bunny girl's lap. All the while, Chuck worked on his computer while listening to their conversation with half an ear.

"What do you mean 'what are they'?" Tails questioned with a smile, "A Chaos Emerald is a Chaos Emerald."

"Once you gather all seven of the Chaos Emeralds," Amy started with a bit of excitement, "Legend says that the entire world will be in the palm of your hand!"

A squeak was heard as Chuck spun halfway around with a tired look on his face, interrupting the pink hedgehog's excited speech. "However, that isn't what will happen..." Turning to Chris with an amused smile, he continued, "Legends have legendary heroes for a reason."

Blinking cutely, Cream asked innocently, "Will it ever end?"

"I wonder if it'll end..." Chucks replied, looking slightly tired once more. Turning his attention away from the others, he spoke serious with his eyes shut, "Eventually, the Chaos Emeralds will disappear."

The room was filled with a depressing silence, each for different reasons, but all centering around the same thing; the Chaos Emeralds. For Amy and Tails, their thoughts ran down the lines of never being able to return home, while Creams were never to be able to see her family again. Chris, though, thought sadly how he might never be able to meet up with one of these beautiful, and powerful, emeralds. Something about their power sounded so magical, like it really was just some fairy tale. But they were real, weren't they? If not, how _did_ Shadow and Sonic-tachi make it to their world?

"They'll never disappear," a voice broke through the silence. Turning towards the speaker, who happened to be none other then Sonic himself. "Once more there are seven Chaos Emeralds and they have been scattered around again," Sonic explained calmly from his place on the window ceil.

"Then, you mean," Chris tried to grasp, not wanting to get his hopes up, "They're somewhere around here?"

"That's right!" Sonic smirked, giving the redhead a thumbs up. Something Shadow silently grimaced at.

"You're kidding..." Tails whined, looking up to meet Chris' curious blue gaze, "Where could they have scattered to? Maybe they went back to our faraway world, or maybe they're somewhere in this world, but I really don't know..." As he spoke, Chuck gave a wide yawn, proving that, indeed, the old man was tired. But no one gave that any mind. The topic was already decided.

"So..." Chris began to sum up, "If the seven emeralds are in this world, and we go find them all, Chaos Control will happen again, and..." Turning to look at the blue hedgehog, he finished, "You guys can return to the other world, right, Sonic?"

"Yes, that's right."

Something about that brought a depressing thought to both Shadow and Sonic. If they found all the emeralds, they'd return home... Far away from Chris. They would be unable to see the redhead ever again, unless if they did another Chaos Control to jump back to their world. But even if they did, it was unlikely they'd be sent to the same world over and over again... right?

"Chris, if you don't hurry, you'll be late to school," Chuck reminded suddenly, checking his wrist watch that hid under his lab coat's sleeve.

Gasping in shock, Chris almost cried, "Oh no! I almost forgot!" Spinning on his heels, the young boy made a mad dash out the door, waving a hand behind him as he said a quick goodbye to the others in the room. But before the redhead could get any farther then the front of the garage, he was brought to an abrupt halt by none other then Shadow, who had gotten a grasp on Chris' black and light blue striped sleeve.

"Chris..." Shadow spoke, pain shining in his crimson depths.

"What is it, Shadow?" Chris asked, feeling a little concerned for the hedgehog all of a sudden. But even then, the thought of being late for school made the boy worried for himself. He didn't want to get a detention and have to be forced to stay even later in school then needed.

"Just..." the anthro tried to get out, but the words seemed to die on his yellow furred lips. Taking a deep breath, he blurted, "Just remember your promise!"

"...Promise..?" Chris blinked rapidly, confused. What was Shadow talking about..?

"You promised you would... If I leave that you'd..."

Suddenly, the effects of the second day with the black hedgehog raced back into Chris' mind, remembering the promise to give Shadow a goodbye kiss when the time came. Smiling at the embarrassed anthro sweetly, Chris kneeled down a bit to Shadow's eye level, gently saying, "Don't worry, I remember, Shadow. When the time comes, I will fulfill it as I promised." Leaning in closer, the redhead planted an innocent kiss on Shadow's yellow furred cheek, standing up as he waved, "Bye, Shadow. I'll see you around later."

With Shadow too shocked to reply, Chris took his leave, running as fast as he could to meet Tanaka standing by the Thorndyke's limo and holding his blue backpack he had almost left behind in his rush. Still at the garage, the black anthro raised a gloved hand to cover the area the boy's soft lips had kissed. It burnt, that spot. But not in a painful way. Hell no. No way. It... It made Shadow's blood pressure rise, made his heart beat quicken.

Out of nowhere, Shadow had the feeling of needing to be alone. Not because of Chris. Well, maybe a little. But he wanted to get away from everyone else _but_ Chris. He needed some space from Sonic-tachi. So, decision made, Shadow sped off into the distance, away from Thorndyke Manor and far away from Station Square. He had to make Chris' morning goodbye kiss last just a little while longer...

--

Inside of Station Square's Elementary School, Chris, along with his two best friends, Danny and France, sat in their usual spots as childish voices filled the air. Chatter of nothing and everything could be heard, including the two at Chris' table. But the redhead mostly ignored this, too busy reading a book... well, more like "reading," how it was hard to pull his thoughts away from Shadow's earlier behavior on a promise. It was sooo cute!

"Say, Chris, did you see the news?" France spoke suddenly to the redhead, interrupting his thoughts of the black anthro. Blinking back at her in confusion, he gave a light nod, keeping his voice soft with a gentle, "Un..."

Suddenly, the classroom's door was pushed open, the principle entering the class along with another man in a blue suit. "I have an announcement, everyone," the principle spoke, voice deep and hoarse, "The one in charge of this class, Ms. Wendy, is participating in a trans-continental Super Quiz... She has, since yesterday, quite being with this school." Cries of shock and wonder filled the room, while France and Danny gave each other curious looks. The stubby man continued despite that. "In any case, from today on, Mr. Stuart will be taking over this class."

Smiling charmingly, the taller man in blue, Mr. Stuarts, greeted, "Nice to meet you!"

"We're pleased to meet you!" the voices of children echoed together, but a little off from sounding as one all together. Silently, with the other students' attentions straying away from their new teacher, Mr. Stuart's violet eyes slithered their way over to Chris' table, watching the redhead boy with an almost sinister gaze.

--

The bell had rung, giving the students the signal to go to lunch break. As they left, Chris found himself standing outside his class room, waiting for his dark skinned friend who was taking his time in their class doing... something. Sighing, Chris finally called, "Danny, are you ready yet?"

"Uh... Er, just a minute!" Danny's voice called back, making Chris roll his eyes in amusement. For someone who wanted to do basket ball, the boy was far too slow.

Suddenly, the feeling of someone standing right behind him made Chris look over his shoulder. There, standing very tall, and oddly enough very handsome, was their new teacher, Mr. Stuart.

"Christopher Thorndyke." The name was spoke like it was the most special word in the world, and by such a gentle, deep voice, it was almost just as beautiful. But as he continued, the new words sounded less magical, only making Chris more confused by the older man's sudden presence. "Your father holds 70 of the computer world's share, and is CEO of Starship Soft, Nelson Thorndyke. Your mother is a film actress, Lindsay Fair."

"And... what about it..?" Chris spoke softly, slowly, uncertain on where this man was heading.

"Oh no, I'm just a fan of your mother's work and greatly honored to be teaching you," he replied, leaning down a bit to Chris' level.

"Is...is that so..?" the redhead replied weakly, still feeling uncomfortable with this man.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Chris," Mr. Stuart said, raising a hand to shake the boy's in a proper greeting.

Looking at the hand for only a second, Chris quickly took it as their hands hit, making a faint clapping sound. Returning to gaze up into the blonde man's violet eyes, ones that reminded him of a certain red echidna, Chris responded, "Me, too."

Pulling back and standing fully tall once more, Mr. Stuart suddenly asked, "By the way, what kind of animal do you like?"

"Um... Let me see..." Of all the animals he knew, from cats, to dogs, to foxes, to rabbits, even echidna, he would have to say his favorite of all... would be... "...Hedgehogs, I guess."

"Oooh?" Mr. Stuart's expression never changed despite the tone in his voice, sounding like a mix between curious and silently knowing you did something wrong, but not saying it out front.

Feeling insecure at this, Chris nervously asked, "Is that so strange?"

"Oh no, not at all!" Mr. Stuart replied, voice sounding kind and gentle as he gave him a winning smile. Such a tone relaxed Chris' tensed nerves, smiling cutely back at his new teacher. _'At least it isn't strange to like hedgehogs... Not that anyone else's opinions matter.'_

"Chris!" Danny's voice suddenly yelled through the air, the boy running out of the class room _finally_. "Chris, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting!"

Smiling at his friend, Chris turned his attention back up to Mr. Stuart as he quickly wheedled his way away from the man, "Well then, see you Mr. Stuart!" As they ran down the hall, the redhead continued to jibe at his friend, "Danny, you're so slow!" as the said boy whined and continued to say "sorry."

--

_A child giggles. Playing mischievously. Toying with others who try to touch it. But while it plays and laughs, it cries for help, wanting its mother's warmth. Its alone, only finding its brothers and sisters. All of which also wish to find their mother as well. But neither of them do..._

_They cry, endlessly. But no one notices. No one but the missing mother, who also longs to hold their children once more in a comforting embrace. They had been separated for so long, so long the mother has forgotten what the children look like, sound like. But deep down, no memories have gone. None have vanished._

_And though the cries use to be so faint, so far away that the mother couldn't bother to try and look for its children, the voices have grown in volume. They have gotten closer, screaming louder, calling clearer._

_But of all the children, one voice rung the loudest. And that voice was so close, so near, so..._

"Chris?"

Snapping out of his day dreamed state, Chris turned his attention over to his best friend, Danny, who sat next to him in the cafeteria. Chatter filled the room just as it did that morning in their class room, if not louder now without having to be quiet for a teacher's lesson. But despite that, the school still had ordered to have a television set to news 24/7. Rather odd, but...

"What did Mr. Stuart want to talk to you about?" Danny continued to speak, his green eyes never removing from Chris's face as he sipped on the straw of his soda. It was odd that their new teacher would suddenly talk to a student so soon, especially on their first day. What could Mr. Stuart see in Chris that needed to be confronted right before lunch time?

"Oh, uh..." blushing a bit, Chris replied, "He wanted to know my favorite animal, that's all."

"Really?" blinking in shock, Danny turned away from the redhead to face his lunch, adding a faint, "How odd..."

_'I know what you mean...'_ Chris thought to himself, but returned to his lunch.

--

Back at the Thorndyke Manor, Sonic lay resting on a high tree branch, enjoying the soft breeze and shade from the sun it provided. Soon, though, even the comforts grew a little tiring, what with a hedgehog like him, always wanting action and to run freely at high speeds. And without Shadow around to tease or Chris to stare at and flirt with, there really wasn't much keeping the blue anthro's attention.

"Now, then! I wonder what I'll do..." Sonic yawned out after a stretch, smirking at the possibilities of what he could do. Maybe hunt down a certain redhead boy's school and surprise his friends..? That might win the boy's admiration...

"Sonic-kun! Big problem! Big problem!"

Blinking in shock, train of thought completely lost to him at the worried voice of little Cream, Sonic quickly called down, "Cream! What's the matter?"

"Big problem! Big problem!" was her only answer, running towards his tree and looking up at him with big brown eyes. Even though Chris had his heart, the little bunny girl could even make him melt inside. Maybe it was a kid thing...

So, without much thought, the blue anthro slide down the tall tree and made it to the worried child's side in an instance, ready to hear whatever it was that troubled her. Whatever it was, it was most likely something big, as he kept repeating!

"Its an Chaos Emerald!" Cream explained finally, pointing towards the Thorndyke Manor as she continued, "The talking box told Cheese and me! They found a Chaos Emerald in town!"

"Really?" blinking, Sonic let a grin curl his lips. _'Finally, something interesting!'_ Turning his attention back to the young girl, he ordered, "Go tell Tails and Amy, okay? I'm going ahead."

"Okay, Sonic-kun!" with that, the little bunny took off with Cheese following her as quickly as his little pink wings could take him.

"Guess I found out what I'll be doing now," Sonic laughed to himself, remembering the question he had asked himself while resting in the tree. Once done laughing, the blue anthro took off quickly, heading straight for Station Square. Where was he heading in Station Square? How the hell did he know?

-----

**_-tsuzuku-_**


End file.
